1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an organic polymer composition, material, and article; and methods of preparing and using same.
2. Background Art
Build up of carbon dioxide gas in earth's atmosphere is commonly believed to lead to global warming. Combustion of fossil fuels naturally produces carbon dioxide (CO2) gas and other acid gases in flue gas mixtures. Catabolism of organic molecules by microorganisms produces CO2 gas that contaminates deposits of natural gas. Mankind needs to remove the CO2 gas and other acid gases from flue gas mixtures and natural gas to protect our planet.
Membranes have been investigated for CO2 gas removal applications, but due to inherent unpredictability in the membrane art, various organic polymers have been tried for CO2 gas separation and yet an ideal membrane material has not been found. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,247,191 B2 mentions, among other things, a composition and method of making high performance hollow fiber membranes. These are prepared from a polymer material having a predetermined amount of crosslinking so as to have a high resistance to plasticization. The predetermined amount must be within a required range so that the polymer material avoids having too little crosslinking, which can lead to plasticization of the membrane, and too much crosslinking, which can cause fragility and poor performance of the membrane. Inherent physical property limitations of the polymer material (e.g., it has relatively high dynamic viscosity as a melt) undesirably limit composition and performance of the membrane. Preferred membrane comprises a polyimide polymer comprising covalently bonded ester crosslinks. The ester crosslinking chemistry undesirably uses an organic crosslinking agent (e.g., (HO—(CH2)n—OH), release of which can also damage earth's environment.
A composite comprising a molecularly self-assembling (MSA) material and a filler has been used to prepare a membrane for treating certain ad rem gas or vapor/gas mixtures. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2010/0126341 A1 mentions polymer pi-bond philic filler composite comprising an MSA material and a pi-bond philic filler. The composite is useful for preparing a semipermeable material for separating a pi-bond containing gas from an ad rem gas mixture. The composite requires the pi-bond philic filler and has not been disclosed for separating CO2 gas from flue gas or natural gas.